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Bartle Frere Coolskink (Techmarscincus jigurru)

The Bartle Frere cool-skink is a very restricted Australian skink known from high elevations on and around Mount Bartle Frere in Queensland's Wet Tropics. It is listed as Critically Endangered in Queensland and has low mobility, so clearing or disturbance in its limited upland habitat requires targeted survey and careful site protection.

Conservation status

Queensland, Nature Conservation Act 1992: Critically endangered.

Breeding season

The species is an oviparous, diurnal skink, but no species-specific breeding months, active season or egg development period are recorded. For clearing planning, treat all months as potentially harmful because animals may shelter in granite cracks at night and have a restricted upland range.

Reproductive mode: Oviparous

Clutch size: Average 3 eggs, with 3 to 4 eggs reported per clutch

Incubation: Not recorded

Size at hatching: Not recorded

Age at maturity: Not recorded

Nest or egg sites: Not recorded

Breeding frequency: Not recorded

Confirm timing locally using survey results and advice from the relevant Queensland regulator, and consider rainfall and temperature triggers before setting clearing dates.

  • Mating: No mating months are recorded for this species. Treat mating as possible in any month until local observations provide better timing.
  • Gravid females: The timing of gravid females is not recorded. Any month may contain females carrying eggs, so do not schedule clearing on the assumption that gravid females are absent.
  • Egg laying: Egg-laying months and nest sites are not recorded. Treat exposed granite, ground cover and other occupied upland habitat as potential egg-laying habitat throughout the year.
  • Incubation: Incubation length and the months when eggs remain in nests or soil are not recorded. Eggs could be present in any month where suitable, undiscovered sites occur.
  • Hatchlings: Hatching and juvenile emergence have not been recorded. Juveniles are reported to tolerate the same area as adults, so young may occur in occupied habitat in any month.
  • Active period: The species is diurnal and is seen basking during the day, but no seasonal activity months are recorded. Plan daytime surveys and clearing controls for every month.
  • Highest clearing risk: No month is identified as a lower-risk period. Clearing may harm adults, eggs or young at any time, including animals sheltering in granite cracks at night, and the species has a restricted upland range and low mobility.

Identification

This is a small, high elevation skink known from a very restricted area of north-eastern Queensland. The supplied sources do not provide a full external description, photographs, body measurements or information on sexual differences.

The documented colour pattern is distinctive, with dark brown to black and white to cream markings. A field record should be supported by clear photographs and, where appropriate, close examination by an experienced herpetologist because the species is easily confused with other small skinks.

Diagnostic colour pattern: Dark brown to black with white to cream markings

Body scale rows at mid-body: 30

Frontoparietal scales: Paired

Identification: Separating similar skinks

The combination of 30 mid-body scale rows and paired frontoparietal scales separates this species from most Australian species formerly placed in Leiolopisma. Leiolopisma entrecasteauxii has fewer fourth-toe subdigital lamellae, 16 to 22 compared with 26 to 29 in the Bartle Frere cool-skink, and lacks the documented dark and pale colour pattern.

Fourth-toe subdigital lamellae: 26 to 29 in the Bartle Frere cool-skink

Comparable count in Leiolopisma entrecasteauxii: 16 to 22

  • If handling is authorised, count the subdigital lamellae beneath the fourth toe and record the scale count and head scalation.
  • Do not rely on colour alone where photographs, scale counts or locality data are available.

Identification: Field signs and sex

No species-specific information is supplied on tracks, scats, calls, nests, sloughs, eyeshine, sexual dimorphism or reliable differences between males and females. Absence of obvious field signs should not be treated as evidence that the species is absent.

  • Record the exact location, elevation, habitat condition, weather, time, observer, photographs and any capture or handling details for every suspected animal.
  • Submit uncertain records for expert verification, particularly outside the known Mount Bartle Frere area.

Distribution: National range

The species is known only from a narrow upland area in Queensland. The available sources identify it as a narrow endemic and do not provide a mapped extent, confirmed subpopulations, abundance estimate or population trend.

In Australia, the species is recorded from Queensland on Cape York Peninsula. The stated type locality is near the summit of South Peak on Mount Bartle Frere, at about 1524 m.

State: Queensland only in the supplied records

Bioregion: Wet Tropics

Known elevation: 1524 m

Type locality: Near the summit of South Peak, Mount Bartle Frere

  • Treat high elevation records in the Wet Tropics as requiring confirmation because the documented range is very restricted.
  • Do not assume that a record elsewhere in Queensland is this species without diagnostic photographs or expert confirmation.

Distribution: Strongholds and population information

The mountain areas around Mount Bartle Frere are identified as strongholds for threatened upland fauna, and the Bartle Frere cool-skink is described as restricted to these mountains. The species is also described as known only from its type locality in the cited range assessment.

Known stronghold: Mount Bartle Frere and associated high mountain habitat

Mobility rating in the Wet Tropics assessment: Low

Population size: Not provided

Population trend: Not provided

Confirmed subpopulations: Not provided

Habitat: Upland setting

The documented habitat is high elevation mountain habitat in the Wet Tropics, centred on the summit area of Mount Bartle Frere. The supplied material does not identify a specific regional ecosystem, vegetation association, substrate, canopy structure or microhabitat.

The species occurs in the high mountains of the Wet Tropics and is reported from near the summit of Mount Bartle Frere at 1524 m. It is one of a small number of Wet Tropics reptiles confined to a single upland area or restricted mountain area.

Elevation record: 1524 m

Regional setting: Wet Tropics mountains, Queensland

Range character: Narrow endemic

  • Give priority to intact high elevation habitat on Mount Bartle Frere and nearby mountain areas during impact assessment.
  • Map all proposed clearing, temporary access, tracks, laydown areas and construction footprints within the known upland range.

Habitat: Climate limits and habitat condition

The Wet Tropics assessment identifies climate change as a risk to this species. It notes that mountain-top taxa have limited potential to retreat and that a rising cloud layer may produce drier conditions at high elevations.

Documented climate concern: Risk from climate change

Cloud-layer projection noted in the assessment: The orographic cloud layer may lift from 600 to 900 m by 2050

  • Retain connected upland habitat and avoid unnecessary disturbance to intact summit and mountain vegetation.
  • Assess changes to cloud exposure, drying, fire regime and extreme weather where a project may affect high elevation habitat.

Foraging habitat: Information gap

The supplied documents do not report the diet, prey, feeding method, food plants, daily activity period or foraging range of the Bartle Frere cool-skink. Field assessment should therefore avoid assuming that apparently unsuitable surface habitat is unused.

No species-specific information is provided on whether the species feeds in leaf litter, beneath rocks, in vegetation, on trunks or in another microhabitat. No prey or food plants are identified.

Diet: Not reported in the supplied documents

Foraging range: Not reported

Foraging period: Not reported

  • During targeted searches, inspect the full range of available ground and low vegetation microhabitats without removing or damaging shelter features.
  • Record feeding observations, prey items, substrate, height above ground, weather and time of day, and submit unusual records for expert review.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

The species is oviparous, but the supplied documents do not provide its breeding season, clutch size, incubation period, age at maturity or lifespan. Specific nesting sites and breeding microhabitats are also not described.

Oviparity indicates that females lay eggs, but no further breeding details are given in the available sources. Survey and clearing decisions should not be based on an assumed breeding calendar.

Breeding mode: Oviparous

Breeding season: Not reported

Clutch size: Not reported

Incubation period: Not reported

Age at maturity: Not reported

Lifespan: Not reported

  • Record eggs, gravid females, hatchlings and courtship observations if encountered, without disturbing them unless authorised under the relevant permit.
  • Protect occupied habitat throughout the year until species-specific seasonal information is available.

Breeding habitat: Breeding habitat

No egg-laying site, nest substrate, incubation temperature, shelter type or juvenile habitat is identified. Because the species is a low-mobility narrow endemic, clearing of any occupied upland habitat may remove breeding habitat even when eggs or young are not detected.

  • Avoid clearing within confirmed or suspected habitat until an ecologist has assessed the site and the relevant Queensland requirements.
  • Retain undisturbed ground cover, shelter features and habitat connections where they occur within the project area.

Sheltering habitat: Known information

The sources do not identify the species' shelters, retreat sites or overwintering behaviour. They do establish that it is a low-mobility, high elevation mountain species with a very restricted known distribution.

No species-specific information is supplied on burrows, rock refuges, logs, leaf litter, tree hollows, dens, roosts, ground cover, sloughing sites or refuge dimensions.

Shelter type: Not reported

Shelter dimensions: Not reported

Mobility: Low

  • Inspect and retain rocks, logs, litter, crevices and dense ground cover in occupied or potentially occupied upland habitat until their use has been assessed.
  • Do not clear or stockpile natural shelter features before fauna survey and fauna spotter catcher procedures are completed.

Sheltering habitat: Project controls

The species' restricted range and low mobility mean that animals may have limited ability to move away from clearing or construction. The Wet Tropics assessment also identifies the surrounding mountain habitat as important for restricted upland fauna.

  • Use staged clearing, keep machinery within approved footprints and provide an ecologist-led response for any suspected individual.
  • Maintain habitat connections between retained areas and prevent avoidable isolation of small upland habitat patches.

Threats: Climate change and mountain drying

The clearest documented threat is climate change, particularly for a narrow-range mountain-top species with low mobility. Clearing and construction can add direct habitat loss, fragmentation and disturbance risks within its very small known range.

The Wet Tropics assessment identifies a risk from climate change for this species. It notes that mountain-top taxa have limited potential for retreat, and that a higher cloud layer may create drier conditions alongside higher temperatures and altered fire regimes.

Documented threat: Climate change

Associated processes identified for upland taxa: Higher temperatures, altered fire regimes, changing cloud conditions and more frequent catastrophic events

  • Protect intact high elevation habitat that may provide future climate refuge.
  • Avoid actions that increase drying, edge exposure or fire risk in retained upland habitat.

Threats: Clearing and fragmentation

The species is a narrow endemic known from a restricted mountain area and has a low mobility rating. Clearing, road construction, tracks, utility corridors and temporary works within that area may remove habitat or divide habitat patches.

Range status: Narrow endemic

Mobility rating: Low

Known abundance: Only known from the type locality in the cited range assessment

  • Avoid clearing in the known range wherever practicable and keep all project disturbance within the smallest possible approved footprint.
  • Survey before clearing and apply Queensland threatened fauna approval, mitigation and fauna spotter catcher requirements.
  • Treat unconfirmed sightings near Mount Bartle Frere as potentially significant until verified.

Threats: Fire, roads, predators, disease and hydrology

The supplied documents do not identify species-specific effects of roads, predators, disease or hydrology change. They do identify altered fire regimes, introduced animals and disease outbreaks as broader threats to Wet Tropics biodiversity, and note that climate change may increase invasion and disease risks.

  • Assess fire, introduced animal activity, disease pathways, drainage changes and road mortality as project-specific risks rather than assuming they are absent.
  • Prevent construction runoff, altered drainage, weed spread and movement of pest animals into retained upland habitat.
  • Record and report any mortality or displaced skinks found during clearing or road works.

Survey methodology: 1. Targeted habitat assessment

Techmarscincus jigurru is a narrow-endemic, low-mobility skink known from high-elevation habitat near the summit of Mount Bartle Frere. The supplied sources do not provide a species-specific survey guideline, so survey design should be prepared by a suitably qualified herpetologist and based on the species’ restricted range, upland habitat and likely low detectability.

Confirm whether the project overlaps the known distribution on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula, particularly high-elevation habitat associated with Mount Bartle Frere and the Bellenden Ker Range.

Map retained and disturbed areas, elevation, boulder fields, rock outcrops, deep leaf litter, coarse woody debris and other moist rainforest ground cover before selecting survey sites.

Treat any record outside the known locality as a high-priority verification record because the species is reported as known only from its type locality and is regarded as a narrow endemic.

Known elevation: 1,524 metres

Known type locality: Near the summit of South Peak, Mount Bartle Frere

Mobility rating in the Wet Tropics assessment: Low, use all records

Survey methodology: 2. Day searches and refuge inspection

Search retained and potentially disturbed upland rainforest habitat during daylight, with particular attention to concealed ground refuges and moist cover.

Inspect suitable rocks, logs, litter and crevices carefully and replace each refuge in its original position after inspection.

Use a qualified reptile ecologist to set the search area, transect spacing and inspection effort because the supplied documents do not specify transect length, search hours or detection rates for this species.

Record search date, start and finish time, weather, elevation, habitat, area searched, refuges inspected and the result of each search.

Survey methodology: 3. Nocturnal searches and trapping design

Include nocturnal searches where access, safety and approvals allow, because the available documents do not establish whether this skink is more detectable by day or night.

Use repeated searches across representative retained habitat rather than relying on a single visit.

Consider temporary pitfall or funnel trapping only where authorised, suitable for the terrain and approved in the fauna management plan, with shelter, shade, weather protection and checks at a frequency set by the permit and animal welfare requirements.

Do not state that a site is free of the species from a negative survey alone, particularly where survey conditions, access or habitat disturbance reduce detectability.

Survey methodology: Minimum effort and reporting

  • Have the survey design reviewed by a suitably qualified herpetologist before works commence.
  • Survey all proposed disturbance areas and adjacent retained habitat that may be used for relocation or connectivity.
  • Record exact coordinates, elevation, date, observer, method, effort, weather, habitat and photographs for every detection and non-detection survey.
  • Photograph the animal and its microhabitat where this can be done without handling or disturbing it unnecessarily.
  • Submit verified records to the relevant Queensland wildlife database and notify the project approval holder and regulator where required.
  • Check the current Queensland and Australian threatened-species registers before finalising approvals, because the supplied sources do not provide a current approval determination for the project.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise

Avoiding disturbance at the known high-elevation range is the preferred control. Project planning should retain connected, moist upland habitat and prevent unnecessary removal of ground refuges.

Avoid clearing within the species’ known high-elevation habitat wherever a practicable alternative exists.

Retain continuous rainforest ground cover and links between retained habitat patches because the species is assessed as having low mobility.

Retain boulders, rock crevices, logs, deep litter and other moist ground refuges in place unless an authorised fauna specialist identifies a specific handling method.

Keep machinery, laydown areas, access tracks and spoil outside retained habitat and outside mapped refuge areas.

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and work planning

Check the current Queensland conservation status, permit requirements and fauna handling authorities before works begin.

Check whether the action requires an Australian Government referral, even though the supplied species entry states that the species is not listed under the EPBC Act.

Prepare a fauna management plan that identifies survey methods, qualified personnel, stop-work triggers, handling limits, relocation sites, injury response and reporting requirements.

Stage clearing so that retained habitat remains connected and fauna management can be completed before each work area is opened.

Before habitat disturbance: Site preparation

Complete the pre-clearance survey immediately before disturbance, using a timing and effort approved in the fauna management plan.

Flag no-go areas, retained ground refuges, access routes and relocation habitat on plans and in the field.

Install exclusion fencing only where it will not isolate the species from retained habitat or funnel animals towards machinery, roads or unsuitable habitat.

Brief machine operators and all spotter catchers on the species’ identification, restricted range, low mobility and the site stop-work procedure.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls

Clearing should proceed under direct fauna supervision in small, controlled stages. The spotter catcher must have authority to stop machinery whenever an animal, potential refuge or unsafe condition is encountered.

Inspect exclusion fencing, no-go markers and retained habitat before work starts each day.

Clear progressively in a direction that allows animals to move towards retained habitat, provided the direction is confirmed as suitable by the fauna specialist.

Keep machinery outside marked retained habitat and use the smallest practicable disturbance footprint.

Maintain a daily fauna log recording personnel, work area, weather, searches, animals found, actions taken, injuries, releases and incidents.

During habitat disturbance: Spotter catcher and machinery

Place the fauna spotter catcher where the active clearing face, ground refuges and machinery movements can be seen safely.

Require the operator to stop immediately on the spotter catcher’s instruction and not resume until the area has been checked and released.

Use hand tools around rocks, logs, litter and crevices that may conceal a skink rather than allowing uncontrolled machinery disturbance.

Do not permit untrained workers to capture, restrain, transport or release the animal.

During habitat disturbance: Animal handling and habitat features

If the skink is found, stop work, protect it from machinery and keep people and equipment away while the authorised fauna handler assesses it.

Handle the animal only when necessary for immediate protection, approved relocation or veterinary treatment, and use the minimum restraint needed.

Relocate a healthy animal only to nearby retained habitat that has been assessed as suitable, connected and outside the disturbance footprint, and record the release coordinates and habitat condition.

Keep the animal separate from incompatible species and minimise holding time, heat exposure, noise and direct sun.

Move rocks, logs and litter only under the fauna management plan, and place them in nearby retained habitat in a way that preserves cover and moisture.

Take injured animals to a veterinarian or authorised wildlife carer as soon as practicable, and record the treatment destination and outcome.

During habitat disturbance: Stop-work triggers

  • Stop work if Techmarscincus jigurru is detected within the active work area or if the fauna specialist cannot safely inspect a suspected refuge.
  • Stop work if clearing enters a marked no-go area, damages retained habitat or compromises the approved relocation area.
  • Stop work during unsafe weather, access or visibility conditions that prevent effective fauna supervision.
  • Notify the project manager, fauna ecologist and relevant regulator or approval holder of a detection, injury, mortality or unauthorised disturbance, as required by the approval and permit.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance checks

Post-clearance work must confirm that animals were not left in the disturbed area and that retained upland habitat remains suitable and connected. Records should support adaptive management and regulatory reporting.

Inspect the completed work area and its boundaries for trapped, injured or displaced reptiles before machinery and temporary controls are removed.

Recheck retained habitat and relocation sites using the approved survey method and document any further detections.

Repair damaged exclusion fencing, no-go markers, ground cover or refuge features before the next work stage begins.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

Monitor retained and relocated habitat at the frequency and duration specified in the fauna management plan or approval.

Compare detections, search effort, habitat condition and disturbance records between work stages rather than reporting records without survey effort.

Report all verified records, injuries, mortalities, relocations, control failures and corrective actions to the approval holder and relevant Queensland wildlife database.

Review the work method after any detection or mortality and change staging, machinery exclusion zones or habitat handling procedures before continuing.

After habitat disturbance: Ongoing controls and offsets

Maintain access restrictions, weed control, erosion controls and habitat protection measures for the period required by the approval.

Assess any offset requirement against the current Queensland and Australian approval framework and the final confirmed conservation status.

Do not treat an offset as a substitute for avoiding disturbance to the species’ known high-elevation habitat.

Rehabilitation actions: Restore ground habitat

Rehabilitation should recreate cool, moist upland ground habitat and maintain links to retained rainforest. The supplied documents identify climate change as a risk, so rehabilitation should protect stable refuges and avoid creating drier or isolated habitat.

Reinstate local leaf litter, woody debris, rocks and other ground cover from the disturbance area where it is free of weeds and can be moved without spreading soil pathogens.

Place logs and rocks to provide shaded, moist crevices and do not stack or seal them in ways that remove access for small skinks.

Use locally appropriate rainforest species and local provenance plants selected by a qualified restoration ecologist, because the supplied documents do not identify a species-specific planting list for this skink.

Maintain continuous ground cover between rehabilitated areas and retained habitat rather than creating isolated planting islands.

Rehabilitation actions: Protect the restored site

Control weeds and prevent introduced animals from degrading the moist ground refuges used by native fauna.

Manage erosion, sediment and drainage so rehabilitation remains cool and moist and does not become exposed, compacted or waterlogged beyond the site’s natural condition.

Apply fire planning that protects high-elevation rainforest habitat and avoids unnecessary loss of litter, logs and refuge cover.

Do not install nest boxes as a substitute for this skink’s ground refuges unless monitoring shows a specific approved need; the supplied sources do not identify hollow use by this species.

Rehabilitation actions: Success measures

  • Set measurable completion criteria for plant survival, ground-cover continuity, refuge reinstatement, weed abundance, erosion and connectivity before rehabilitation begins.
  • Inspect rehabilitated habitat after establishment and after major disturbance events, with the timing set in the rehabilitation plan.
  • Use repeat searches in rehabilitated and reference habitat to assess whether the species is using restored areas, while recognising that a non-detection does not prove absence.
  • Repair failed planting, exposed soil, damaged refuge features or broken connectivity links until the approved success criteria are met.
  • Submit monitoring results and any new verified records to the relevant Queensland wildlife database.

Sources